


Past, Present, Future

by ambiguously



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Changing Tenses, Crush at First Sight, F/F, May the 4th Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-10-25 04:26:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10756683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/pseuds/ambiguously
Summary: Where they were, are, will be.





	Past, Present, Future

**Author's Note:**

  * For [armsofthestorm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/armsofthestorm/gifts).



Sabine's early works will be on display as mementoes of the Rebellion. This helmet, the one painted like a stylized cat's face, will sit on a pedestal with a plaque describing its origin. Images from her anti-Imperial slogans and signs will festoon the walls, and overhanging it all will be the starbird, the wings of her freedom. A scrawl she made as a gift to Wedge the last time she saw him will hang in a frame.

Sabine herself will never be comfortable in gowns. Her mother raised her to warfare, not to courtly pleasantries, born as she was in the middle of Death Watch's reign of terror. She will pick at the costly silk that clings rather than covers like good, solid armor would. She will put on her face and act as though she belongs here, because they will believe she was born to belong here.

Then Ketsu will grab her hand, not angrily, and bring the gloved knuckles to her lips for a kiss. Her own gown clings in scarlet waves which will make Sabine's pulse race as her warm palm is against her wife's.

"You're doing fine," Ketsu will say, and Sabine will believe her.

* * *

Sabine was exactly fourteen and a half when she learned the name of the prettiest girl in her Analytics class. She'd been doodling again, bored with the lecture when she already knew this material.

"Cadet Onyo," the lecturer called, and the pretty girl stood, answering the question Sabine hadn't even heard.

By the time they were paired to work on their Crystal Statics project, Sabine knew her first name was Ketsu, that she hailed from a part of Mandalore Sabine had never even heard of, and that she had the best, most buoyant laugh Sabine had ever listened to.

They sat at meals together, poring over the work. Sabine took on the job of sketching all the diagrams, then composing their creations in the modeling program. She always added little drawings of the two of them operating the machine, or waving at the pure beam flying away from the emitter. She drew other sketches she never showed anyone, sketches where the little cartoonish figures kissed or danced. She was certain Ketsu would laugh at her, or worse, grow uneasy in her company.

A harmless crush was fine, Sabine told herself, and hid away her drawings. She found more reasons to spend time with Ketsu, finding new projects to work together on, daring her to bend the rules about how cadets spend their after-hours free periods. She longed to dare Ketsu to kiss her, and nearly did on her fifteenth birthday, but her parents surprised her with a visit before she could get out the words.

"I dare you," Ketsu said, and "I dare you back," said Sabine.

On a dare, Ketsu broke into the headmaster's office. Sabine decrypted the files. They saw what their work was to become, and there were no other choices to make and only one path to dare.

"I have to tell my family," Sabine said. "They're influential. They can stop this."

Ketsu made that odd face like she often did. Her family was not influential. Her family would not care. "Are you sure?"

"They'll believe me," Sabine said, confidently.

* * *

Atollon is big but the base is small. There's no hiding from someone else unless Sabine spends all her time in her own room. She does, but not to hide, she tells herself. She likes her alone time, that's all, something Ezra doesn't understand, and Zeb doesn't care about, and Hera tries to respect, and who knows what Kanan thinks these days, since he's barely speaking to any of them?

When Sabine emerges from her hiding, Ketsu has gone off on a mission. Sabine is both pleased and disappointed. She can't ignore someone who isn't there. She plays it cool until she sees the lights of the _Shadow Caster_ coming in for a landing a week later.

They're almost friends again, after everything. Ketsu is an ally to the Rebellion, but Sabine guards her own heart. The trust is gone. "Join me for some caf?" Ketsu asks her after she's been debriefed. Sabine almost says no, and instead tells her the _Ghost_ has a fantastic blend in its stores.

* * *

The opening at the museum will seem to last for years. Sabine's work will not be the only new exhibit tonight, leaving her free to wander the other items on display. Each poster she rereads, each holovid that autoplays as she stands in front of it, each uniform dressing a mannequin, will bring back hot, real, sad, sweet images inside her mind. There will be a display about the Rebellion attack on Lothal, and she will stop motionless, caught in the past, as the holovid will catch her presence, and will reset to play the story from the beginning.

Ketsu will pull her from the other displays, guiding her with her hand away from the thick memories. She will find a corner away from the prying eyes of the journalists and the high-class patrons invited to this late opening, and she will stand herself between Sabine and any of the old Alliance crowd who will also be dragged out tonight as another kind of exhibit.

She will say, "I love you, and we can leave."

Sabine will grasp her hand. "I'll be okay. Just hold me tonight when we get home."

"Promise."

* * *

Money wasn't something Sabine had ever worried about before. Bounty hunting didn't sound so bad and their clients paid well. They made their own hours. Their targets had crossed the Black Sun and the gangsters wanted them more or less alive.

She convinced herself they weren't doing anything wrong. Her resolve lasted until they handed over their first captive, a nervous Sullustan who begged and pleaded for his freedom, swearing he'd done nothing. Sabine watched the enforcers grab his arms as he squirmed and cried. Ketsu got the payment and tugged at her arm. "Let's go."

"What are they going to do to him?"

"The same thing they'd do to us if we tried to stop them."

That started their first fight, and it was not their last. Their last argument sparked right before the mission on Talut went horribly wrong. Sabine found herself at the bad end of a blaster bolt, and Ketsu ran before they shot her, too.

Sabine drifted in and out, the pain a distant sorrow next to her understanding that Ketsu wasn't coming back for her. She closed her eyes for a long time. When she opened them again, a green face was staring at her critically before breaking into worry and shouting, "This one's alive!"

* * *

They're in her bunk, surrounded by the doodles Sabine has drawn in her time here. Ketsu reaches up, tracing along with a fingertip. "Your technique is improving. The shading work is much smoother than it used to be."

Sabine rolls up against her, enjoying the smooth, warm skin she finds. "You have no idea what you're talking about, do you?"

"Not a clue." The hand falls down, resting on Sabine's bare shoulder. "I always thought I should try to take an interest, but art is really your thing. It's all lines and colors to me. Don't ask me about your inner meaning."

"How do the lines and colors make you feel?"

A kiss touches her hair. "Happy."

Sabine closes her eyes, nestling closer. They should have done this a long time ago, each using her mouth to make the other's toes curl up instead of to argue. She doesn't want to think about the past. She doesn't want to worry about the future. She wants today.

"Then that's the meaning."


End file.
